Aerosol delivery to ventilated newborn infants: historical challenges and new directions

There are several aerosolized drugs which have been used in the treatment of neonatal respiratory illnesses, such as bronchodilators, diuretics, and surfactants. Preclinical in vitro and in vivo studies identified a number of variables that affect aerosol efficiency, including particle size, aerosol flows, nebulizer choice, and placement. Nevertheless, an optimized aerosol drug delivery system for mechanically ventilated infants still does not exist. Increasing interest in this form of drug delivery requires more controlled and focused research of drug/device combinations appropriate for the neonatal population. In the present article, we review the research that has been conducted thus far and discuss the next steps in developing the optimal aerosol delivery system for use in mechanically ventilated neonates

Rethinking the geographies of cultural ‘objects’ through digital technologies: interface, network and friction

This paper addresses how geographers conceptualize cultural artifacts. Many geographical studies of cultural objects continue to depend heavily on an approach developed as part of the ‘new cultural geography’ in the 1980s. That approach examined the cultural politics of representations of place, space and landscape by undertaking close readings of specific cultural objects. Over three decades on, the cultural field (certainly in the Global North) has changed fundamentally, as digital technologies for the creation and dissemination of meaning have become extraordinarily pervasive and diverse. Yet geographical studies of cultural objects have thus far neglected to consider the conceptual and methodological implications of this shift. This paper argues that such studies must begin to map the complexities of digitally-mediated cultural production, circulation and interpretation. It will argue that, to do this, it is necessary to move away from the attentive gaze on stable cultural objects as formulated by some of the new cultural geography, and instead focus on mapping the dynamics of the production, circulation and modification of meaning at digital interfaces and across frictional networks